Most applications provide a few standard output options such as Save and Print. Many user's have come to accept this limited set of output options as normal. Also, the current application model forces application programs to depend on the operating system for output primitives and forces a given application to provide support into these primitives. Note that a “primitive” is a basic interface or segment of code that can be used to build more sophisticated program elements or interfaces. In the prior art, selected applications allow their toolbar to be customized for a user specific experience. This toolbar customization is limiting in the following ways: 1) User's must either install additional software or choose from a limited set of options offered by the application, and 2) User's must customize each application that they use.
Some websites are designed to allow the website to be customized on a user-by-user basis. However, this customization is accomplished by choosing from a palette of options and this palette of options does not generally have anything to do with printing and imaging.
Also in the prior art are websites that allow a user to maintain a collection of URLs (i.e., bookmarks) that the user can access at a later time to find sites of interest to the user. These websites are focused on offering a customized portal which enables the user (and possibly his friends) to find URLs of interest. It is important to note that the URLs provided by these systems are stored within the system by either the user or other delegates. It is also worth noting that these URLs are general purpose—they are not intended for use in printing and imaging operations (i.e., “sharing” operations). Accordingly, a problem exists in the provision of output options to a user across a variety of applications.